Make Your Self A Better Candidate

Careers and Colleges, Sept, 2000 by Diana Yap

"Sports really helped me develop a sense of structure for my life. I would go from school to cheer practice, and then I'd go to soccer practice. Then two nights a week I'd have to work. I had to learn to budget my time to bring up my grades. Now I'm definitely an organized person. I carry my calendar everywhere."

And her love for athletics was a big part of her college applications. As a sophomore at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, majoring in broadcast journalism and double-minoring in French and business, her sports background continues to serve her well.

"College is a new world, and it's like an entirely different life from anything I've ever experienced," Libby says. "But because of the experiences I've had through soccer and cheerleading, I've been able to meet new people and I'm less hesitant to take on situations I'm not used to."

The Military Advantage

When Isaac Bray graduated from high school in 1998, he didn't head to a summer job or a beach vacation. Instead, he left for four months of Army boot camp and job training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, right outside Charleston. By the fall, when his college-track peers were deep into classes, Bray was working as a personnel specialist at Fort Drum, in Watertown, New York.

Bray, now 21, had signed up with the Army for four years primarily to earn money for college, but he has also learned invaluable skills, such as time management, organization, computer skills, and leadership, that will undoubtedly help him stand out when he applies to four-year colleges after his service. He will also have a leg up thanks to the college credits he is earning while he's in the Army.

The military hasn't been a piece of cake, though. During basic training at Fort Jackson, Bray got up every day between 3 and 5 a.m. and didn't go to sleep until around 10 p.m. He spent his days doing push-ups and sit-ups, running, marching to cadence, and learning hand-to-hand combat skills -- often in hot, humid weather. Although his current office job has him processing papers, he still runs and does pushups every morning before changing into his green camouflage uniform for work.

Of his Army experience, Bray says, "It's given me leadership. I never really looked at myself as someone who could be a manager, but being in the Army made me want to go to the next level instead of just wanting to get the bare minimum."

Most importantly, his four-year Army stint is teaching him the maturity he feels people must have to succeed. "I'm starting to see how things. affect my future. While I'm in the Army, [the courses I take now] will help me get promotions to that next level, that next pay grade. I have something to shoot for. And when I'm in [a four-year college], I'll know that how hard I work is directly related to how well I do."

These days, Bray is married with a baby, and takes a class a semester -- "that's all I can juggle." When he leaves the Army in 2002, he plans to attend a four-year university. He's not sure whether he'll choose a school located where he lives now, in upstate New York, or someplace back home, near Fort Worth, Texas. He does know that he'll be able to go to school on the government's dime.